Two coffee makers AND a trap door

WASHINGTON (ANP) - De Verenigde Staten hebben aangekondigd hun sancties tegen de Iraanse oliesector aan te scherpen. Dat verklaarde de Amerikaanse minister van Financiën Scott Bessent in een persbericht.

De sancties zijn met name gericht op de transportinfrastructuur, waaronder een twintigtal personen en entiteiten die banden hebben met het netwerk van oliemagnaat Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

"Het ministerie van Financiën voert krachtige maatregelen uit in het kader van de operatie 'Economische woede' en richt zich daarbij op de elites van het regime, zoals de familie Shamkhani, die zich ten koste van het Iraanse volk proberen te verrijken", aldus Bessent.

Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani is de zoon van Ali Shamkhani, een naaste adviseur van de voormalig hoogste Iraanse leider Ali Khamenei; beiden kwamen op de eerste dag van de oorlog om het leven.

WASHINGTON (ANP) - De Verenigde Staten hebben woensdag gedreigd sancties op te leggen aan kopers van Iraanse olie. Dat zei de Amerikaanse minister van Financiën Scott Bessent tegen verslaggevers in het Witte Huis.

Volgens Bessent zijn de VS ervan overtuigd dat China dergelijke aankopen zal opschorten vanwege de Amerikaanse maritieme blokkade van Iraanse havens. China kocht voorheen meer dan 80 procent van de geëxporteerde Iraanse olie.

"We hebben landen laten weten dat als ze Iraanse olie kopen, of als er Iraans geld op hun banken staat, we nu bereid zijn secundaire sancties op te leggen," aldus Bessent.

De Amerikaanse maritieme blokkade begon maandag. Het Amerikaanse leger heeft de eerste twee dagen van de blokkade tien schepen tegengehouden. Geen enkel schip heeft de blokkade doorbroken, stelt het Amerikaanse centrale commando CENTCOM woensdag in een bericht op X.

TEL AVIV (ANP) - De vergadering van het Israëlische veiligheidskabinet is zonder besluit over een mogelijk staakt-het-vuren in Libanon geëindigd. Volgens The Times of Israel hebben twee Israëlische functionarissen die op de hoogte zijn van de zaak dit Channel 12 laten weten.

Een topfunctionaris meldde eerder op woensdag dat het Israëlische veiligheidskabinet om 19.00 uur bijeen zou komen. Met name de VS zou van Israël verlangen de aanvallen tijdelijk te staken.

Ondertussen worden er in de nacht van woensdag op donderdag door Libanese media melding gemaakt van Israëlische aanvallen op onder meer een ziekenhuis in Beiroet en op de buitenwijken van de zuidelijke stad Tyrus.

Senator’s fourth attempt for resolutions fails, but votes show growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday led a failed effort to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, but the votes revealed a growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits on US weapons transfers to a longtime US ally.

It was the fourth time Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, had forced consideration of resolutions cutting off military aid for Israel in the Senate, all of which have been rejected by the chamber’s Republican majority, and many Democrats.

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Stretched across a boulevard and shaped like an ‘amoeba’, the divisive Geffen Galleries open next week

Two decades ago, the new director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) began a project to revitalize the space for the 21st century. On Wednesday, the institution unveiled the results of that $724m effort: the David Geffen Galleries, a hulking, curving concrete building that spans Wilshire Boulevard.

In a city of striking modern architecture, from the Getty Museum to the Disney Concert Hall, the opening is a landmark event. The project, whose unconventional shape has been likened to an amoeba, has inspired praise and polarization.

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Browser fingerprinting is everywhere

Google markets its Chrome browser by citing its superior safety features, but according to privacy consultant Alexander Hanff, Chrome does not protect against browser fingerprinting – a method of tracking people online by capturing technical details about their browser.…

In an interview with Fox News, Ford CEO Jim Farley warned that allowing Chinese vehicle imports could put nearly a million U.S. jobs at risk. He said China's heavily subsidized auto industry has enough excess capacity to supply the entire U.S. market, while also raising serious cybersecurity concerns given how much data modern connected cars collect. Ars Technica reports: "First of all, the Chinese have huge direct support for their auto companies," Farley said, while noting that China has the ability to build an additional 21 million vehicles a year on top of the 29 million that are expected to roll off Chinese production lines in 2026. "They have enough capacity in China to cover all the manufacturing, all the vehicle sales in the United States," Farley said.

"Manufacturing is the heart and soul of our country, and for us to lose those exports would be devastating for our country," he continued, before pointing out the cybersecurity worries about Chinese cars. "All the vehicles have 10 cameras. They can collect a lot of data," he said.

Farley has praised Chinese EVs like the Xiaomi SU7, even going on podcasts to sing its praises. But he believes Ford's forthcoming affordable Kentucky-built EVs, due to start hitting dealerships next year, have what it takes to be competitive. When asked about new car prices rising an average of 2 percent last year, Farley repeatedly said that Ford had "worked with the administration" so that there's "essentially no big impact" of the Trump tariffs. The CEO justified the rising costs by pointing to the F-150's sales as proof of its value.

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Cal is moving its flagship scheduling software from open source to a proprietary license, arguing that AI coding tools now make it much easier for attackers to scan public codebases for vulnerabilities. "Open source security always relied on people to find and fix any problems," said Peer Richelsen, co-founder of Cal. "Now AI attackers are flaunting that transparency." CEO Bailey Pumfleet added: "Open-source code is basically like handing out the blueprint to a bank vault. And now there are 100x more hackers studying the blueprint." The company says it still supports open source and is releasing a separate Cal.diy version for hobbyists, but doesn't want to risk customer booking data in its commercial product. ZDNet reports: When Cal was founded in 2022, Bailey Pumfleet, the CEO and co-founder, wrote, "Cal.com would be an open-source project [because] limitations of existing scheduling products could only be solved by open source." Since Cal was successful and now claims to be the largest Next.js project, he was on to something. Today, however, Pumfleet tells me that AI programs such as "Claude Opus can scour the code to find vulnerabilities," so the company is moving the project from the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL) to a proprietary license to defend the program's security.

[...] Cal also quoted Huzaifa Ahmad, CEO of Hex Security, "Open-source applications are 5-10x easier to exploit than closed-source ones. The result, where Cal sits, is a fundamental shift in the software economy. Companies with open code will be forced to risk customer data or close public access to their code." "We are committed to protecting sensitive data," Pumfleet said. "We want to be a scheduling company, not a cybersecurity company." He added, "Cal.com handles sensitive booking data for our users. We won't risk that for our love of open source."

While its commercial program is no longer open source, Cal has released Cal.diy. This is a fully open-source version of its platform for hobbyists. The open project will enable experimentation outside the closed application that handles high-stakes data. Pumfleet concluded, "This decision is entirely around the vulnerability that open source introduces. We still firmly love open source, and if the situation were to change, we'd open source again. It's just that right now, we can't risk the customer data."

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On Wednesday shareholders in Thomson Reuters demanded the company’s board launch an investigation into whether its products have contributed to human rights violations, specifically with regards to Thomson Reuters’ ongoing sale of peoples’ personal data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Thomson Reuters sells access to the CLEAR investigative database, which can include peoples’ names, addresses, car registration information, Social Security numbers, and details on someone’s ethnicity. 404 Media has repeatedly shown how CLEAR is integrated with ICE tools, including one ICE uses to find neighborhoods to target.

The move is the latest piece of growing pressure against the company concerning its contracts with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It follows an internal protest in which more than 200 Thomson Reuters employees sent leadership a letter expressing their concern with those contracts. As 404 Media reported on Tuesday, Thomson Reuters fired the worker who led that effort, according to a newly filed lawsuit.

“Shareholders request the Board commission an independent human rights impact assessment evaluating the extent to which TRI’s [Thomson Reuters] products may contribute to adverse human rights impacts when used by law enforcement agencies, including when TRI’s products are combined with other surveillance technologies,” the shareholder proposal, written by the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) and viewed by 404 Media, reads. BCGEU is a minority shareholder in Thomson Reuters.

“The assessment should address reasonably foreseeable risks arising from aggregated or integrated use of surveillance tools by law enforcement or immigration authorities and recommend measures to mitigate such risks,” the proposal adds. It asks that any produced report “be publicly available, subject to confidentiality and competitive considerations.”

The proposal repeatedly cites 404 Media’s investigations. In January 404 Media revealed the existence of a Palantir-made tool called Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement or ELITE. That tool populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and includes a “confidence score” on each person’s address. An ELITE user guide 404 Media obtained said a source for some of those addresses includes “CLEAR.” Two DHS sources told 404 Media they believe this specifically refers to Thomson Reuters’ CLEAR. 

The shareholder proposal also cites a November 404 Media article which showed how data from Thomson Reuters, such as driver license data, voter registrations, and marriage records, can be combined with license plate reader data from Motorola. ICE invited staff to demos of the tool, called Mobile Companion. “Thomson Reuters CLEAR combines comprehensive public and proprietary data with nationwide license plate data from Motorola Solutions’ secure shared data network to help take vehicle-involved investigations to a more precise level,” internal ICE material viewed by 404 Media said. 

Emma Pullman, head of shareholder engagement and responsible investment for the BCGEU, told 404 Media in an email: “What is not disclosed cannot be managed, and that is why we are calling for an independent, human rights impact assessment of how Thomson Reuters’ products may contribute to human rights harms, particularly when used by law enforcement, and when the Company’s products are integrated with other surveillance technologies.”

“What we are asking for is pragmatic investor due diligence. This is what responsible stewardship of capital demands,” she added.

The BCGEU proposal laid out the legal risks Thomson Reuters may face by providing ICE with such data. “ICE’s immigration enforcement activities are the subject of multiple lawsuits in response to credible reports of unlawful and improper detentions, due process violations, surveillance of citizens, and deaths,” it said. “TRI faces compounding legal, reputational, and governance risks. TRI’s employees have spoken out publicly, which could impact TRI’s ability to deliver on its goals.”

It also points to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which Thomson Reuters says it endorses. The proposal says companies must conduct due diligence on “actual and potential impacts including where data may be accessed, used or repurposed beyond original intent,” and “direct and indirect impacts, including from business relationships.”

Thomson Reuters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Met de kleuterklas naar het museum voor een klassenuitje. „Kijk kinderen, en waar dat beeld op staat, dat heet: een sokkel.” Kleuter 1: „Ohh, je mag niet zeggen sukkel, dat is…